


What Makes Them Special

by Akino_Kasumi



Category: Free!
Genre: Fluff, Humor, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-28
Updated: 2013-10-28
Packaged: 2017-12-30 18:18:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,508
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1021877
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Akino_Kasumi/pseuds/Akino_Kasumi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rin and Ai, Nagisa and Rei are on separate outings and happen to stop by at the same cafe, where they observe Makoto and Haru do couple-like things. They decide to spy on their ‘date’. </p><p>—"Say, you think Haru-chan and Mako-chan are dating?"</p>
            </blockquote>





	What Makes Them Special

**Author's Note:**

> This is not exactly Makoto and Haru centric, but more of a view of their relationship from third parties’ perspectives. It’s an attempt to portray how MakoHaru shippers react to their relationship, such as ‘beautiful~’, ‘cute!’, feeling like punching a wall, etc. In the end let’s agree that they’re basically married :3 My headcanon is that Nagisa is actually a MakoHaru shipper on board despite being a natural cockblocker. Enjoy! *hides*

~

“What are you looking at, Rin-senpai?” Large blue eyes follow ruby ones curiously until they land on two familiar faces a few tables away from them.

Aiichirou’s eyes widen in surprise. “Isn’t that Nanase-san and…”

~~

“Nagisa-kun! You’re ordering too much!”

“It’s fine, right? I’ll just make Rei-chan pay for it!” Nagisa puts down the menu, large round eyes staring at Rei expectantly.

“No, it’s not! And I will not!” Rei sighs in indignation. Why did he allow himself to be dragged out of his house just for this? Not only is the food here overpriced, there is nothing particularly beautiful about this so-called newly opened café.

“Aww, don’t be stingy, Rei-chan!”

“I am not! Besides— you’re not listening to me at all, Nagisa-kun!”

“Forget about that, Rei-chan! Look over there!”

“Don’t change the subj— Huh? That’s…”

~~

“Haru, do you want to try this? It looks weird, but it’s actually pretty good.”

Haruka takes the offered beverage and places his lips to the straw, observing the bright green liquid before drinking it. “It’s good.”

“Right?” Makoto smiles as he proceeds to try the food he ordered.  His eyes widen in delight as he tastes the green curry. “Haru, you should try this! It’s delicious!”

Haruka leans forward to eat from the spoon offered to him. He looks down at his own share of simmered mackerel in miso sauce as he chews, and looks back up at Makoto.

“Makoto should try this too.” He picks up some fish with his chopsticks and offers it to Makoto.

“Mm.” Makoto mumbles as he swallows. “It’s good, but not as good as what Haru can cook.”

Makoto looks at him, green eyes genuine. Haruka cannot help the small smile that plays on his lips.

~~

Aiichirou finds himself getting flustered looking at the intimate interaction between the two.  _An indirect kiss,_ is all he thinks, and he blushes. He turns to Rin, eyes questioning.

Rin raises an eyebrow at him, then sighs. “That’s the way they normally are, you know. You just have to get used to it.” He assumes they haven’t changed since grade school…

That  _is_  what he thinks, but if he were to be honest now, he can’t help but be a little skeptical.

“I—I see. Should we join them?” Ai looks up at him, eyes large and bright.

“Tsk…”

~~

Rei smiles as he watches Haruka and Makoto. “Haruka-senpai and Makoto-senpai always seem so close and comfortable with each other. It’s beautiful.”

“Yes it is!” Nagisa agrees heartily. “Haru-chan and Mako-chan have always been really close, because they’re childhood best friends!”

Nagisa stands up from his seat. “Let’s go over and join them, Rei-chan!”

Rei agrees, standing up, but suddenly stops him.

“Rei-chan?”

~~

“…What is it?” Haruka finds Makoto staring at him.

“There’s something on your mouth.”

Makoto leans over and wipes a stain from the corner of Haruka’s mouth using a handkerchief, smiling.

Haruka narrows his eyes.  _What’s so funny?_

“Nothing. It’s just that Haru reminds me of one of the cats when you had that stain stuck at the corner of your mouth.”  _It’s cute._

“Shut up.” Haruka pouts and turns his face to the side, blushing lightly. Makoto chuckles.

~~

Nagisa turns to look at Rei. “Rei-chan?”

"L-Let’s not interrupt them, Nagisa-kun." Rei pushes his glasses up his nose. Suddenly he’s not so sure that they’ll just be interrupting a normal outing between two best friends.

~~

Ai blushes and looks at Rin, now  _really_  questioning. Rin has his jaw dropped open slightly, trying to convince himself that those two do not actually look like they are flirting in public. Suddenly he sees a Nagisa appearing out of nowhere, and Rei trying to pull him away.  _Why are they here!?_

“Let’s go say ‘hello’, Rei-chan!”

He looks between them and the table where Haru and Makoto are seated, and before he knows what he’s doing, he stands up hastily and pulls Nagisa aside.

“What are you doing?” he hisses. He covers Nagisa’s mouth before he can exclaim any “Rin-chan!”

He shares a knowing glance with Rei, and they drag him away with a combined effort and sit him down at the table where Aiichirou is seated, hidden from view by a potted plant.

“H-Hello.” Rei greets, pushing his glasses up. Aiichirou greets them happily in return.

“Rin-chan! Ai-chan! Are you checking out this new café too?”

“We were just shopping for some supplies, and I heard there’s a new café that opened in the area, so I told Rin-senpai that I wanted to come!”

“I see!” Nagisa nods, then turns his attention to Rei. “Why did you stop me, Rei-chan?” He turns to Rin. “Rin-chan,too.” He looks between them, seemingly confused. He thinks for a while and Rei dreads the look in his eyes that shows when he suddenly understands.

He lowers his voice and gestures to them both to come closer. “Say, you think Haru-chan and Mako-chan are dating?” Rin and Rei blush simultaneously.

“Ehh? So it’s true!?”

“Shhhh!” Rin and Rei hush Aiichirou immediately when he suddenly squeaks out loud.

All four turn to look at Makoto and Haruka who are now listening to music on shared earphones. When they turn back Rei and Rin both feel a sense of dread when they notice the glint in Nagisa’s eyes that cannot possibly signal anything good.

~~

They end up spying on the Mako-Haru ‘date’. Even though Rei is against it, he’s worried about the stunts that Nagisa might pull, so he has no choice but to be part of it. Meanwhile Rin doesn’t really trust Rei to manage Nagisa on his own, so he joins them (but maybe he’s also a little curious himself). Ai simply follows them.

After lunch at the café, the four tail Haruka and Makoto to the shopping district. They end up following them into random shops. In a shop that sells plushies, Makoto takes a dolphin hat from a shelf and puts it on for Haruka. Haruka frowns a little and takes a similar orca one to put on for Makoto. “It’s cute,” Aiichirou comments. Nagisa takes out his phone to snap a picture but Rei stops him.

They enter a supermarket and spend the rest of the time shopping for groceries and household supplies. Rin wonders how boring this is going to get.

At one point Haru tries to strip and jump into a fish tank and Makoto has to stop him. Rin cannot help but palm his face.

“Haruka-senpai…” Rei feels sorry for Makoto.

Before they leave Makoto buys a twin popsicle and splits it for him and Haruka, like always.

~~

They follow the two to a park where they simply sit on a bench, looking at the scenery and things on their iPod and conversing occasionally.

They’re observing the two from behind a tree. So far what they have been doing are just ordinary stuff. Even though they may seem overly intimate at times, that’s just the way they normally are, Rin concludes. He’s about to tell Ai that they’re going back, when Makoto starts to move. His hand looks like it’s moving to cup Haruka’s face and he’s leaning towards Haruka and they look like they’re about to… The four look on, holding their breaths, with Rei putting a hand over Nagisa’s mouth. And then, Makoto removes a flower from Haru’s hair and smiles his sunny smile. Rin feels like punching a wall, or tree.

"This is supposed to be a date!? They’re just doing these ordinary stuff!" he grits.

"Ordinary is what makes them special, Rin-chan." Nagisa offers a surprisingly mature input and they all look at him. Nagisa blinks. “What?”

Rin sighs. “I’ve had enough. Let’s go, Ai.”

“Wait, Rin-chan!” Nagisa pulls his arm but suddenly trips and stumbles backwards, pulling Rin along with him.

The noise makes Haruka and Makoto turn towards them.

“Nagisa? Rin! Are you okay!?” Makoto stands up and runs over frantically while Haruka follows.

Rin stands up and brushes off the dirt. “…Tsk.”

Nagisa bounces back immediately. “Mako-chan! Haru-chan! We were—”

“Makoto-senpai, Haruka-senpai! W-What a coincidence!” Rei comes out from hiding before Nagisa can say anything that may incriminate them.

“Rei and Ai too! What are you all doing here?”

Rei fidgets, not knowing what to say.

“Shopping for swimming supplies.” Rin contributes, gesturing to the paper bags that Ai is holding. “We just happened to run into each other and decided to hang out.” He smirks. It’s the truth.

~~

They end up having dinner together, all six of them. It is when they are walking home that Rei awkwardly broaches  _the_  question, discreetly asking Makoto and Haruka if it was a date the two were having. Makoto, obviously oblivious to the definition of ‘date’ he implies, readily replies yes, that he and Haru go out together like this all the time. He meets Haruka’s gaze and he smiles.

The four then realise how horribly wrong they were. Forget about dating, they should have established that those two are basically married without it (whether knowingly or not is a different story).


End file.
